Professional Recipes Blog

Recently for Easter dinner, I made a batch of Hollandaise sauce from scratch to go with the blanched asparagus that was one of the surprises I had planned for my friends and family. I haven’t made it at home or professionally in quite some time but the process came back to me easily and despite forgetting that I had no lemon juice in the house (horrors!), it came out pretty nicely after sending my daughter to the corner market!

Making Hollandaise Sauce with egg yolks and a whisk.

It does take a little work to make correctly and to be quite honest, the powdered/packaged variety is a good substitute for most home cooks, but nothing beats freshly made hollandaise.

Check out this article on making hollandaise from scratch: How to Make Hollandaise Sauce!

Labor Day weekend is upon us and that means we’ll be grilling in the backyard, having a drink with friends and family, and getting that last swim in the pool. This is a time of year where we celebrate the end of summer.

For most people, Labor Day barbecues are a big deal with all kinds of different food to throw on the grill. For the backyard gourmet this provides the perfect opportunity to show off their best marinades, elaborate shish kabobs and many different varieties on the classic BBQ fare. The grill usually gets a good workout and often times it’s the last time it gets used before being put away for the winter.

While many of us are experienced in the art of grilling when it comes to food, there are some basics to proper grilling that are either forgotten or never learned. While the food still comes out tasting good, there are some subtle things you can do to really make your food stand out from the crowd to impress your friends and family.

Always clean your grill with a wire brush before cooking on it. There are some who believe that leaving some of the residue from previous cookouts adds flavor to the food, it simply is not true. More often that not, it adds a burnt taste to the food and causes it to stick to the grill. Even if you take a break between grilling for lunch and dinner, clean your grill before starting again. You’ll be glad you did.

Use oil on the grill to prevent sticking. Lightly brushing the grill with oil before grilling will prevent food from sticking to it.

Flare-ups. Yeah, it looks cool to see some high rising flames and for certain foods, this may be preferable (searing the outside of a steak for example, but leaving it rare in the middle), but for most food on the grill, this just leaves it overcooked on the outside and generally undercooked on the inside.

Basting your food while grilling can add some wonderful flavor, particularly if you’ve marinated it ahead of time. Try not to baste the food until the last 5-10 minutes of cooking however, else you run the risk of flare-ups and burning your food. This is particularly true if you used sweeteners such as brown sugar or honey in your marinade. Sugar tends to caramelize quickly and stick to the food and the grill.

Marinades are a wonderful way to introduce a variety of flavors to food. It’s best to marinade for at least 6 hours, but if you’re planning a big barbecue, it’d be a good idea to marinade your food the day before to really get the fullest flavor.

Safety First! Grills can get very, very hot and often there are children running around, whether it be to jump in the pool or playing a game in the backyard. Accidents happen of course, but there is the potential for serious injury. Make sure your grilling area is well away from the pool, deck, or any area where others will be sitting or playing. Be sure you know how to properly operate your grill, no matter what kind it is.

So, by following some simple rules, you can really make a big difference in the flavor and presentation of your food and everyone can enjoy a safe and happy Labor Day BBQ.

Check out some of these recipes to try for your own Labor Day BBQ:

Firewalker T-Bone Steak

Steak and Shrimp Kabobs

Cajun Chicken Kabobs

Grilled Salmon with Lemon Butter

Grilled Swordfish With Chipotle Cilantro Butter

Apricot Marinade

Chef Newman’s BBQ Sauce

Easy Guacamole Dip

Enjoy!!!

There are many people who enjoy cooking and working with food. From resourceful parents who can whip up a meal in 30 minutes with whatever happens to be in the fridge, to the person who simply likes to dabble with different combination’s of food and create new dishes. Many of these people are looking for new ideas to try or simply wish to improve their cooking skills to impress guests, friends and family, or impress their date with a fabulous meal.

The difference between the home cook and the gourmet chef really comes down to knowledge and experience and oftentimes practice makes perfect (especially when it comes to food). How many times have you or someone you know attempted to make a dish only to have it taste different than what you expected or not look the way you expected or simply be over or undercooked? It happens to even the best of gourmet chefs from time to time. Even the pros (you just don’t see their mistakes or they know how to fix a mistake quickly).

So how does the average person learn to cook like a gourmet?

1. Be open to learning new things: Try something new and creative that you haven’t tried before. Spend some time learning about the techniques involved and just go and do it! The more you try different techniques, the more you learn.
2. Go ahead and watch the cooking shows: there are some truly resourceful chefs out there now using many different styles and with the variety of shows on the Food Network and other channels, there’s plenty to learn by observing.
3. Experimentation: experimentation is the only way we come up with recipes, so go ahead and spice up that bland sauce or try something new for your old favorite, just remember to start small and tweak as you go along and reserve some extra time in case you overdo it.

I’ve created a new “lens” on Squidoo entitled How to Cook Gourmet Style that will show different things to learn, offer tips and how to’s on cooking like a gourmet and more. You can find this lens and other lens that we create by going here:

How to Cook Gourmet Style: 10 Things Every Aspiring Gourmet Chefs Should Learn

I’ll be creating different lens on gourmet cooking as time goes on and I’ll be posting the different lens here, but all will be indexed on the Professional Recipes Squidoo Page so you can check out all of our lens. I’ll also be adding the lens to the Gourmet Cooking section on Professional Recipes also so that you can simply subscribe to our blog for updates, or bookmark the Gourmet Cooking section on Professional Recipes and check out our articles as well.

Enjoy!

“Just the thought of hosting a dinner party can turn some people into a quivering mess, and many would not even consider it, but hosting a dinner party doesn’t have to be difficult. The trick is to plan ahead, have as much as you can done well in advance and to keep it as simple as possible.”

This great article comes to us from our friends at only-cookware.com. Here is the link for the article on Professional Recipes: Tips for Hosting a Dinner Party

If you haven’t yet, take a peek and read the article. It does have some great organizational ideas!

Please leave a comment on this article or discuss below!

“Cooking is something that a good majority of the population does on a daily basis but most people do not even consider that the cookware they are using may also have a major affect on the outcome of their meals.

Using the right cookware for the job can turn an adequate cook into a great cook. It is amazing how a simple change in the type of cookware can dramatically impact the overall result.

There is so much information available online about the many types and materials used in your everyday cookware, so take the time to do some research and think about the type of cookware that will suit your circumstances in regards to the number of people you cook for, they type of cooking you do, and always a major consideration, your budget.

It is generally better to buy fewer quality items that will last you for years even though they may be a little more expensive initially. The quality and the results are well worth you paying a bit more.

Here is some information that may assist you when setting out to make those all important purchases for some of the items to aid you in your cooking”:

The Right Cookware for the Job

This article highlights the different types of cookware available and what type to use for specific cooking styles and techniques. Very informative. You can read the entire article by clicking the link above. Please leave a comment or discuss below!